GLA Huawei Exposure

Shaun Bailey: Does any part of the GLA Family have any exposure to Huawei, if so please detail?

The Mayor: GLA / MOPAC / OPDC/ LLDC
The GLA, MOPAC, LLDC and OPDC do not use any Huawei equipment or have any systems reliant on Huawei technology.
London Fire Brigade (LFB)
The Brigade has no specific Huawei equipment running in any of its infrastructure. However, it is possible that components made by Huawei are installed in other network and/or telecoms equipment that has been purchased. It is possible that some of our major suppliers such as BT / EE and Vodafone utilise Huawei equipment within their infrastructure.
Trasnport for London (TfL)
Transport for London(TfL), as part of the GLA group, are not aware of any exposure to Huawei.
Huaweiare not one of the consortiums shortlisted to install 4G onto the London Underground and TfL have not used their equipment within the trial section on the Jubilee Line.

Working from Home -Digital Connectivity

Navin Shah: A recent Travelwatch survey suggests Londoners expecting to work from home in future has gone up for the 3rdweek running and is now at 69%. During the pandemic and the recovery period, it’s most critical that the large number of Londoners working from home, have reliable and enhanced digital connectivity. What is being done to improve rapidly the connectivity, how is this monitored and what role operators are playing to maintain consistent coverage and attend to faults. Can you also advise the support you’re getting from government to provide an adequate level of guidance and resources?

The Mayor: I am working with partners to improve London’s digital connectivity. The GLA is coordinating over £41 million of funding from different sources, including £8.5 million from DCMS and £6 million from MHCLG, to work with boroughs to boost full fibre coverage across London by connecting public sector sites in areas of poor coverage, enabling surrounding properties to become more commercially viable for further private investment by utilising the fibre infrastructure that we will deploy.
Providers continue to make big announcements for digital infrastructure investment in London and work closely with my Connected London team to improve coverage and maximise their infrastructure investment by addressing deployment issues. Throughout the lockdown, the team has been working with providers to help them access sites and carry out urgent work.
Government have provided their Digital Connectivity Portal (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/digital-connectivity-portal), which provides guidance and references tools such as the Standardised Mobile Agreement template I developed in partnership with the British Standards Institute to address mobile not spots.